November 28, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



47: 



seems a perfect mania for collections of Retinisporas 

 under deciduous trees, where they look badly and cannot 

 grow ; for the interpolation of evergreens of all sorts in the 

 most unlikely and unbecoming places, simply that when 

 the trees above them have lost their leaves there may be 

 something green left to look at. The result of this dispo- 

 sition is every way disastrous. But, never mind, we have 

 accumulated specimens ! 



So the habit spreads, and imagination gives place to the 

 catalogue of novelties, the river-view is obstructed by a 

 group of Cercidiphyllums, the sweet calm stretch of meadow 

 in the distance is hidden by a bed of flaming Azaleas, mag- 

 nificent it is true, but in the way. Rhododendrons especially 

 seem to get put in the wrong places, where their shining 

 dark leaves conflict with the softer tints of the surrounding 

 shrubbery, and their dense masses shut out everything 

 else. This is the age of detail, of specialties, of curiosities 

 and accumulations, and few, indeed, are the authorities 

 who can show people what to do with them. Left to them- 

 selves the planters run riot, and shrubberies are turned 

 into collections of bibelots and curios, and the timber-belts 

 are tedious from their very variety. 



Not thus does Nature disseminate her plants, but the 

 cions cluster about the parent and her changes are gradual 

 and harmonious. From group to group she passes with 

 tender gradations of size and color. Above all things, 

 whether in the animal or vegetable kingdoms, she is in- 

 different to eccentricity, and loves to enforce the type. 

 This great principle of mass — of generalization, as opposed 

 to the individual — is the most marked characteristic of 

 natural development. Therefore, let the collector of speci- 

 mens harmonize his groups above all things, whereby the 

 individuals will gain rather than lose in value, by acquir- 

 ing true significance in relation to corresponding though 

 different types. 



Hin^liam, Mass. 



M. C. R. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Chrysanthemums are now the principal topic here with 

 horticulturists and the horticultural journals. They are a 

 prominent feature at all exhibitions held during November ; 

 indeed, many small towns in England are unable to hold 

 an exhibition or show unless it be of Chrysanthemums. 

 London has had two great exhibitions of these plants 

 within a week — at the Crystal Palace on the 2d and 3d, and 

 at the Aquarium on the 6th, 7th and 8th of the month. It 

 was a matter of general surprise among growers to find 

 such excellent examples of flowers, particularly of the 

 Japanese kinds, after the unfavorable season we have had. 

 True, the weather had affected the incurved varieties, which 

 lacked size, substance and color, compared with the flow- 

 ers of last year, for instance ; there was also a marked fall- 

 ing off in the specimen plants. But I have never seen such 

 well-flowered trained specimens as the six plants which 

 won first prize at the Aquarium for Mr. D. Donald, of Ley- 

 ton. They were each about eight feet over, and averaged 

 two hundred good blooms to a plant. As examples of 

 exceptional skill in cultivation, they were a feature of the 

 exhibition, but in a picturesque sense they were exces- 

 sively ugly. One rarely sees a naturally grown plant of 

 Chrysanthemum at an English exhibition, and in view of 

 the fact that the Chrysanthemum under ordinary treat- 

 ment forms a most attractive bush, this is remarkable. 

 If a group of untrained plants in flower is shown it 

 is invariably made up of plants carrying three or four 

 large flowers, each supported on stiffly staked stems. It 

 seems to be the misfortune of the organizers of exhibi- 

 tions that they must make everything subservient to the 

 trays of big blooms, which certainly are marvelous to look 

 at, but which are deprived of most of their picturesqueness 

 by trussing them on trays. An exhibition in which all the 

 plants should be natural, and in which the number of flow- 

 ers borne by each plant would count in the points, would 



be a much greater attraction to laymen, as well as to 

 growers, than the present shows are. The same may be 

 said of the cut flowers. A feature of the National Chrysan- 

 themum Society's great annual exhibition, in recent years, 

 has been the classes for the arrangement of Chrysanthe- 

 mum-flowers for decorative effect. This year this part of 

 the exhibition was by far the most attractive. The flowers 

 had long, leafy stems, and they were arranged loosely and 

 artistically in ornamental vases. Such accessories as the 

 colored leaves of Ampelopsis, various Oaks, the feathery 

 sprays of Asparagus, Ferns, the leaves of Crotons, etc., 

 were permitted. The effect was, in most cases, magnifi- 

 cent, an object-lesson of the greatest value, showing as it did 

 the decorative qualities of the Chrysanthemum in a way 

 that neither the trussed blooms on the trays nor the pain- 

 fully trained specimen plants, nor the stiff-legged plants in 

 the groups could even suggest. 



The most successful arrangement of this character was 

 set up by Mr. H. J. Jones, of Lewisham, whose vases and 

 epergnes were large, yet elegant, and they were filled with 

 Chrysanthemums, mostly Japanese, grand flowers too, 

 whose beauty came out amidst the setting of feathery Fern 

 and colored leaf. 



In England, the Japanese varieties are now first, and the 

 rest nowhere. They are a long way ahead of all the other 

 classes in point of elegance, color and variety. Take a 

 handful of the flowers of the pick of the Incurved, the 

 Queen of England group, say, and compare them with such 

 Japanese sorts as E. Molyneaux, Stanstead White, Sunflower, 

 Colonel W. B. Smith and Florence Davis. Ladies do not 

 care for the incurved varieties, and cannot be persuaded 

 to take any but the Japanese for- floral decorations. The 

 Anemone-flowered varieties, the Pompons and the Reflexed 

 are worth growing, but the Japanese sorts now eclipse 

 them all. There is, however, one section of Chrysanthe- 

 mums which has a promising future, and that is what is 

 called the single-flowered section. They are never promi- 

 nent in exhibitions, but gardeners, who know their value 

 in the conservatory and for cut-flower purposes, grow them 

 in quantity. There is no more beautiful variety than Mary 

 Anderson, which is a glorified moon-eyed Daisy. 



English growers and breeders of Chrysanthemums are 

 largely on the increase. Mr. Godfrey, of Exmouth, the 

 raiser of the beautiful Florence Davis, Beauty of Exmouth 

 and other first-rate sorts, has this year some seven thousand 

 seedlings on trial, and he is only one of dozens who are 

 working on an equally large scale. Seedlings of promise 

 are submitted to the societies for certificate, and it has now 

 been decided to exclude from the official catalogue of cul- 

 tivated Chrysanthemums, published by the National So- 

 ciety, all new-named sorts that fail to obtain this certificate. 

 By the way, I can recommend this catalogue to American 

 growers of Chrysanthemums. It contains a classified de- 

 scriptive list of all the sorts grown in 1890, with two sup- 

 plements, bringing it down to the present time, besides 

 other interesting and useful information. It is published 

 at the price of one shilling, and may be obtained from Mr. 

 R. Dean, the Secretary of the National Chrysanthemum 

 Society, Ranelagh Road, Ealing. 



Some idea of the magnitude of the exhibition and the 

 keenness of the competition may be gathered from the 

 number of competitors in each class. Thus, for the prizes 

 for forty-eight Japanese blooms, there were eleven com- 

 petitors ; five societies competed for the National Challenge 

 Trophy ; there were seventeen stands of one dozen distinct 

 incurved varieties, twelve of two dozen Japanese, fifteen of 

 one dozen Japanese, and so on. The exhibitors hailed 

 from all parts of the country, chief honors being won by 

 Mr. Lees, gardener to F. A. Bevan, Esq., Barnet ; Mr. 

 Mease, gardener to A. Tate, Esq., Leatherhead ; Mr. Donald 

 and Mr. H. J. Jones, of Lewisham. There arc separate 

 classes for amateurs and professionals (private gardeners) 

 as well as for nurserymen. The latter, however, exhibit 

 only elaborate floral arrangements or groups of plants not 

 for competition. Some nurserymen show what they call 



